"Day three of my waking nightmare," Harry muttered as he knocked on the door to Snape's classroom.

"Enter."

Harry pushed the door open and stepped inside, wondering all the while what Snape would make him do today. Harry had spent the last two days crushing frog and insect remains into powder, a task he was sure Snape had been planning since first year just for him. Therefore, he was surprised to find that the table he had been using for the past two days was empty.

"Close the door, Potter." Snape commanded.

Harry obeyed, then watched anxiously as the Potions professor took a roll of parchment from his desk and strode to the supply closet. Snape only stopped long enough to glare at Harry and order, "Come."

The supply closet was stacked from floor to ceiling with vials of potions and ingredients.

"This" Snape made a sweeping gesture to indicate an entire wall of vials with liquid inside "is where mixed potions are stored. You will spend the rest of the day checking the shelves against this list." He thrust the parchment at Harry. "If the vial is not completely full, you will make a notation indicating how much of the potion remains. Are these instructions quite clear?"

"Yes, sir." Harry answered.

"Then get to work."

"Yes, sir."

Snape lingered for a few minutes, no doubt waiting for Harry to either complain about the task or simply refuse to do it. When the young wizard unrolled the three-foot length of parchment and, without so much as a sigh, immediately began to look for the first vial, Snape turned stiffly and returned to his classroom.

Harry smiled grimly. Snape was sorely mistaken if he thought that cataloging potions was really the most unpleasant task Harry had been forced to perform this year. In fact, the only bothersome aspect of the chore was how mundane it was. Harry soon found that he could catalogue potions and think of other matters at the same time, so he let part of his mind wander.

This isn't so bad. He admitted to himself. It's certainly not the worst detention I've served this year. Is this really a detention, though? It is the holidays, after all. He returned a vial of Polyjuice Potion to its proper place and paused for a moment to consider. Then he heard Snape moving around in the next room. Yeah, this is definitely detention. Any second spent with Snape outside of class has to be a punishment of some kind. I wonder who I'd hate to have detention with more? Snape or McGonagall? Well, that's easy. Snape or Filch? They're both foul gits, but Filch is a Squib and he can't use chains on students, so Snape wins that round. Snape or Umbridge? Harry clenched his fists. Definitely Umbridge, but only because Snape has yet to make me write lines in my own blood.

Harry catalogued potions and entertained random thoughts for the rest of the morning. The hours passed quickly, and he was quite surprised when Snape walked in and announced that it was time for lunch. After washing and drying his dusty hands, Harry followed Snape to the Great Hall. Then came what had become Harry's favorite part of this particular winter break: the moment he and Snape went to two entirely different tables on two completely opposite ends of the hall. This was the only time, apart from sleeping, that Harry was allowed to be more than twenty feet away from the professor. This could not really be called freedom because he and Snape were still in the same room, but at least Snape was not ordering him around or making snide comments along the theme of ‘like father, like son.'

As he ate, Harry noted that while the four Hufflepuff students were sitting together, the lone Ravenclaw and Slytherin were dining alone. He was also relieved to find that there were apparently no plans to have the staff and students share a table over the break. Harry did not know who made such decisions, but he decided that whoever it was probably knew that only the Slytherin student would want to sit at the same table as both Snape and Umbridge. The latter had tried repeatedly to corner Harry, but Snape was always there to intervene. However, since Snape's idea of intervening was to tell Umbridge that Harry was spending so much time in the dungeons because "when it comes to Potions, Potter needs all the help he can get," Harry was somewhat less than grateful.

As Harry thought about Umbridge and Snape, he felt overcome with anger. This was not how he had planned to spend his Christmas. At this point, even spending the break with the Dursleys would have been better.

You have no choice but to stay here, and you know it! He bitterly reminded himself. Everyone is safer if you stay here.

But how long would this go on, Harry wondered. How long was he to be plagued by these nightmares, and how was he supposed to make them stop if Dumbledore would not even answer his questions? Now Dumbledore was away from the school until Christmas Eve, and Harry was sure that no one else could help him.

Despair filled Harry, and he suddenly could not bear to be around other people. He pushed his food back, stood, and hastily exited the hall, never once thinking about how Snape would react to his disobedience.

Severus would have enjoyed his Potter-free meal had it not been for the fact that Dolores Umbridge insisting on chattering at him the entire time. The woman appeared to be operating under the mistaken belief that she and Severus were friends, and she was in a particularly cheery mood today. So the Potions Master spent much of the meal ignoring her, a fact of which Umbridge remained unaware.

While Umbridge spoke ceaselessly, Severus consumed his food and forced himself not to look at the Potter brat. After all, this was supposed to be his break from at least one annoyance, and he was determined to enjoy it. He would have succeeded in doing so, despite Umbridge's incessant chatter, if he had not glanced up just in time to see Potter stand and all but run from the hall.

Disobedient little brat! Severus thought angrily. He looked over at Umbridge. It was obvious that she had seen Potter leave, and he prepared to stop her from pursuing the boy. Then she turned to him and smiled.

"You won't have to worry about Mr. Potter for much longer, Severus."

"Really?" Severus asked. The smile on Umbridge's face did not bode well, so he proceeded with caution. "And why is that?"

Umbridge looked around for eavesdroppers, then leaned closer to Severus and whispered gleefully, "Because he is to be arrested and taken to Azkaban tonight."